''Ribes triste'', known as the northern redcurrant, swamp redcurrant, or wild redcurrant, is an Asian and North American shrub in the gooseberry family. It is widespread across Canada and the northern United States, as well as in eastern Asia (Russia, China, Korea, Japan). ''Ribes triste'' grows in wet rocky woods, swamps, and cliffs. It grows to tall, with a lax, often creeping branches. The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed with five lobes, in diameter. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are in pendulous racemes, long. The axis of the raceme is glandular. Each raceme bears 6-13 small, purplish flowers that appear in June and July. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a bright red berry, without the hairs that some currants have. The fruit is edible but rather sour.

Conservation status in the United States

It is listed as endangered in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and as threatened in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

As a weed

Ribes ''Ribes'' is a genus of about 200 known species of flowering plants, most of them native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The various species are known as currants or gooseberries, and some are cultivated for their edible ...

is listed a plant pest in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

and the planting of it in certain parts of the state is prohibited.

Use by Native Americans

In cuisine

Alaska Natives use the fruit as food, eating it raw, and making the berries into jam and jellies. Eskimos eat the berries and the Inupiat eat them raw or cooked, mix them with other berries which are used to make a traditional dessert. They also mix the berries with rosehips and highbush cranberries and boil them into a syrup. The

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

mash the fruit, make them into small cakes, and store them for future use. They later soak the fruit cakes in warm water and cooked them a sauce or mixed them with corn bread. They also sun dry or fire dry the raw or cooked fruit for future use and take the dried fruit with them as a hunting food. The

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

eat the berries raw, and also preserve them by cooking them, spreading them on birch bark into little cakes, which are dried and stored for winter use. In the winter, they often eat the berries with cooked with sweet corn. They also use the berries to make jams and preserves. The

Upper Tanana Upper Tanana (also known as Tabesna, Nabesna or Nee'aanèegn') is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken in eastern Interior Alaska, United States, mainly in the villages of Northway, Tetlin, and Tok, and adjacent areas of the Canadian ter ...

eat the berries as food.

In medicine

The

take a

decoction Decoction is a method of extraction by boiling herbal or plant material (which may include stems, roots, bark and rhizomes) to dissolve the chemicals of the material. It is the most common preparation method in various herbal-medicine systems. Dec ...

of the root and stalk for 'gravel', and take a compound decoction of the stalk for 'stoppage of periods', and use the leaves as a 'female remedy'. The

use a decoction of the stems, without the bark, as a wash for sore eyes.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q2078310 triste Flora of North America Flora of Eastern Asia Flora of China Flora of the Russian Far East Flora of Siberia Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Bird food plants Plants described in 1797 Berries Plants used in Native American cuisine